Cooper One of the main points most of us touched upon was grading for a differentiated classroom. Conventional grading systems leave much to be desired in actual assessment of a student, often times when students do schoolwork with a grade being the primary motivator a full understanding isn’t achieved. Just as grades shouldn’t be an affirmation of understanding for the student, formative assessments should not be a large portion of grading for the teacher. Many of us noted that the role of formative assessments should be to inform the instructor, student, and parents of where the student is in their learning. Once we understand this we can utilize the information gathered through assessments to make sure the student has the greatest opportunity to improve in their learning. This process led many of us to write about improvement based grading, students who make great strides in their learning should not be penalized for not reaching a predetermined benchmark that may be set by the “average” student, these students should be rewarded for making individual improvements. The concept of a specific benchmark for all students to reach being problematic was definitely expressed throughout our responses. What many of us talked about in our response to the Multiple Intelligence chapters was how students with deficiencies in certain areas often excel in others. Deficiencies in math or english are often stigmatized while deficiencies in some of the other intelligences are not really connected to any sort of intellectual stigma. When students struggle in areas that are emphasized in a general curriculum they are dismissed as someone with a learning disability rather than having someone focus on the areas that they are exceptional in. These concepts converged for many of us into the broad statement that as instructors we need to be prepared to assess and grade students of all different intelligences and learning styles. Making success in the classroom a finite concept limits the learning for students who succeed in class and students who struggle. Assessing learning and being open to students who learn in a variety of ways is the best way to ensure that there is growth for all students in a classroom.
Abstract
Dominick
A primary focus of chapter 8 of UBD was grades in the classroom. Should teachers consider the quality of work more? Should teachers look more toward how much improvement the student has achieved over the course of the year? Should grades be based on how many of the teachers learning goals were met by the student? The author expresses that "grading and reporting" need "thoughtful consideration". Teachers must contemplate how they use backward planning and differentiated instruction. These concepts are all relevant to one another in terms of needing to change. Curves should not be used when grading and teachers should consider not grading assessments. Students achievement and "other factors" should be "reported separately". Other factors such as attendance, attitude behavior should not be associated with the student's individual achievement. Reporting systems should also be closely observed before finalization. Chapter 8 of the MI book starts off by going over a classroom management issue: getting noisy students to quite down. The author brings about a scenario that shows the wrong way to control a class when they are too loud. Multiple intelligences is a critical component to consider here. The teacher cannot lose the students attention while switching subjects because everything they teach for the rest of that lesson will render useless otherwise. Preparation for the transition is key when managing to keep the students attention for the duration of class. Rules must be expressed clearly or students will misinterpret what classroom norms are acceptable and ones that could be inappropriate, pointless and flat out outlandish. Chapter 11 goes back to the theory of multiple intelligences. A new concept is brought up that is relevant to the theory and that is special education. Students of all natures have their own type of intelligence. There are patterns that teachers need to pick up on in multiple intelligences theory. It is spotted through the growth of the student. The depth that concept must be considered when focusing on the student. Then the chapter goes on to bring up the relevance of in "the development of IEPs". Cognitive skills and memory are both focused on heavily in this chapter to establish a connection between these two concepts and the multiple intelligence theory. How essential are these skills for students to retain and communicate the knowledge they possess? Teachers then must help students make the connection between that and problem solving. The common theme I found among all of these chapters is that teachers must adjust their way of teaching according to needs of different MI's, special needs and/or other learning disabilities. Wether it's grading, lesson planning or assignments we must do our best to meet the needs of everyone.
Sarah
Chapter 8 in UbD talks about grading and report cards. In this chapter I learned that the primary goal of grading is to give students and parents feedback to support the learning process and to encourage learner success. One way to make grading better is to have descriptions in qualities in student work for each symbol on the grading scale. I also learned that teachers need to eliminate factors that interfere with a student’s ability to show what they learned. The chapter suggests not to grade on a curve and to not score all (or even most) assessments. I learned that it is not a fair to grade formative assessments since their purpose is mainly for feedback. This means that the only assessments that should be graded are summative assessments. The book highly suggested using reporting systems instead of report cards. These systems would give more information than just an A in math C in English etc. The thing that will impact me the most is that the chapter said teachers can even do this when a district uses report cards by having an attachment put into the report card that gives more in depth information about how a student is doing in the course. This chapter can relate to chapter 8 in MI because the MI chapter talks about elements of order in the classroom. Giving reports on how the students are behaving and working in the class can be part of a report system. Reporting how students are behaving can be assessed using MI theory. Chapter 8 (MI) talks about using MI theory to get students attention, to make students aware of transitions, for communicating class rules, and for forming groups. I learned that MI theory can also be used for students with behavior problems. In the case of behavior problems, a teacher can help using the student’s strongest developed MI or the student’s underdeveloped MI. Chapter 11 and 12 talk more about other uses for MI theory. I learned that MI theory can apply to memory. Students that are considered to have poor memories really only have poor memory in one or two MIs. Chapter 11 talks all about how MI theory can be applied to special education. When MI is applied, special education can work better with regular education. Instead of teachers seeing students weaknesses (their learning disability), teachers can instead look at the student’s MIs and see their MI strengths.
Cheyenne
Chapter 8 of UbD focused on grading and its flaws, and ways to fix it. For so many students, grading is simply a goal to be reached, but not a worthwhile one. The grading system favors certain people, and lets down others who are not as strong academically and it forms a divide. Many teachers say they’re seeking a bell curve, but this is not where students should be. The bell curve stresses that most people should be in a B-C range, that this is the average, yet we as a society preach that As and Bs are where students need to be. Many colleges look more for students in the A-B range, even though B-C is considered average. We need to move away from this idea and stress grading based on proficiency, not a letter grade or number scale. Proficiency based grading puts the learner first, assessing them on their content knowledge and how they reached understanding, not on how well they test or complete assignments, and it’s something that educators as a whole must work towards.
MI chapter 8 discussed various ways to implement multiple intelligences into the classroom, but many of the ideas seemed more geared towards younger children opposed to middle and high school students. They do provide a good basis for ways to use MI in the classroom, but none of them feel like things I would be able to use and have my students take me seriously.
MI chapter 11 focused on using multiple intelligences to reach students with a variety of disabilities. Often times, these students will have a disability that impairs one of their intelligences, but they exceed in other areas. As a society, we have a terrible and gross misconception that people with disabilities will have a harder time understanding things, but we refuse to look at the way we might be teaching them. This chapter encourages educators to self-assess how they’re teaching these students, and if they’re only focusing on the area where a student is struggling and refusing to look at other possible ways to reach the students.
Chapter 12 of MI looks at using multiple intelligences to encourage higher order thinking. It looks at ways to use multiple intelligences to improve memorization and problem solving. So much of the current education system places a high value on verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligences that the other intelligences often get left behind. But a great portion of students don’t learn best this way, and are not succeeding as they should be able to because they’re not being taught in this way, or are not encouraged to think this way. It’s imperative that we as teachers reach all intelligences by encouraging different thinking and ways of learning and understanding material.
Lydia
It is important to consider how you grade your students and make sure that they are based on the learning goals that are set for your students. Chapter 8 in UbD also makes it clear that you should base your grading off of the improvement the student has made over the year, not if they get everything right. You also have to take into consideration how to reach your students that may be more advanced or may have a learning disability. Ways to do this for advanced students are to challenge their intelligences that may not be the strongest and let them grow through learning and exploration. MI chapter 11 also says that some ways to help students with learning disabilities in the classroom is to keep them included in every activity as much as possible with the whole class. Another way to include students with special needs is to use their strengths of the multiple intelligences to their advantage instead of making them struggle with intelligences that they have a hard time with. Something else that could be important in the classroom is using the multiple intelligences as a way to help you manage your classroom. Some ways of integrating the multiple intelligences into the classrooms are to get the students to pay attention in class other than yelling at them or using any verbal ways to make them become engaged. Some other things you could use the intelligences for are letting students know there will be a transition, getting them into groups, coming up with class rules, and dealing with behavior issues. The Multiple intelligence theory also shows how students can use certain parts of their intelligences to remember something that may be in another intelligence area. This is important to my future class because they need to feel like their every learning need is being met. As the teacher I have to apply some of these methods to the best of my ability to reach out to students that may not always feel included in class discussion. I also have to challenge other students so they do not feel like they are bored in class. As a teacher I have to find the balance to keep all of my students engaged in what they are learning and I must also think of out of the box ways that I may be able to present the information.
Cory
All of these chapters in general talked about something different. Chapter 8 in UBD talked mainly about the 6 principles of grading. For the most part, most of this information seemed logical to me, and something that all teachers should understand. The biggest take away I got from this chapter was the main idea of the first principle: grades should be based on the specific learning goals that a teacher puts in their syllabus. When a teacher does this, then students will know exactly what is expected of them long before their assessment arrives, meaning they can focus directly on what they should be learning as a teacher goes through the lessons. Then Chapter 8 for MI focused on using the multiple intelligence model in the classroom. As I read this chapter, I felt that the information was rather helpful, but that it was something that I should learn by experience rather than through a book. These strategies to communicate rules, transition from one activity to another, and gaining student’s attention are good starting points, but I feel that every teacher has their own style and way of doing these things. Only the best teachers I have had had their own distinct style that was exhibited in all of these areas. Chapter 11 was much more interesting to me. This chapter focused on how to use the multiple intelligence theory when it comes to special education. The thing that struck me the most was a line on the first page that said, “Educators have had a disturbing tendency (gifted educators excepted) to work from a deficient paradigm – focusing on what students can’t do…” This is one flaw some of my teachers in high school had. When a teacher focuses on what they’re students can’t do, they sometimes over look what their students can actually do. When they do this they may lose some student’s motivation because they will begin to feel that they can’t do much when they actually can. Then chapter 12 seemed rather self explanatory for me. It explained how the multiple intelligence theory could be used to tell how uses their cognitive skills. In other words, it can be used to tell how a student thinks, which is something that they talked about much earlier on in the book.
Shane
The reading for these chapters discuss a variety of different thing such as grading and how to apply the intelligences in the classroom. The big theme was how to make classroom procedures work for a variety of different students. The big part that I enjoyed and connected with the most was the getting away from traditional grading and getting to different types of grading. I have heard of a lot of different schools that are taking grades into a different perspective, but I can say I strongly hate the idea of effort based grading. As a student when we would get an effort grade as well as a letter grade I would get so mad I got an A, but then a 3 for effort. Just because I don’t show high levels of stress and it came easy does not mean I wasn’t trying. I don’t think anyone can judge effort unless is clear someone does not care. Even if someone clearly doesn’t bring in the work that should reflect on their letter grade not in another category all on its own. Another important thought I liked was about content. I feel it is super important to learn the content and then present your knowledge, but also how you feel and what you think in a professional manner. They talked about this in the MI chapters and I couldn’t agree more. The chapter also goes on to tell us that observing a student’s progress throughout the year is also important. Grades could be based on that as well I guess if you’d like. It’s sort of a most improved award if you show progress reward them. The only issue with that is what if someone wasn’t struggling? I really like the fact they gave us a different way to take notes and examples of more activities to relate to different learners. Although we already brainstormed on our own for our lessons it was good to see someone else’s idea of how they would relate to learners. I am excited to see how to plan other activities like study guides, lectures and other ways to help with the learners not just the lessons. To be a good teacher I am going to have to provide a variety of different things for my students and this got me thinking. Some of the reading was common sense and things we have gone over, but it was a good refresher.
Sara
Chapter 8 of UBD/DI talks about grading in the classroom. The current grading system most classrooms use today is not the best way to showcase a student’s knowledge. A teacher can focus all of their time into creating a great lesson plan that accommodates all types of learners, only to fall short when it comes to grading. If a teacher does not consider universal design in their grading methods than what good is it when a student is trying to learn the material. Many students are let down by the grading system because of the way it is set up. They receive a representative grade of a D and feel inadequate when in reality there are multiple things that could go wrong. If student has a bad day, or is having a tough time in school because of personal reasons, does that mean they do not know the material, not necessarily. Intelligences should be considered in all aspects when it comes to the classroom. This includes simple things like how a teacher gives directions or how they get students attention. These small things add up for students and by taking into account their intelligences it gives students the best chance at succeeding. Chapter 11 talks about multiple intelligences with students who have disabilities. I found this chapter very interesting. A lot of times in society people think that students with disabilities have trouble in all aspects of school. In a lot of cases this is not true. While some students may struggle in some areas, they excel in others. It is important as teachers to understand all of our students and understand how best to help them. Chapter 12 was also very interesting to read. This chapter talked about how the intelligences can apply towards different aspects of thinking such as problem solving. Before reading this chapter I had never associated the intelligences to things such as memory. This way of thinking and understanding can immensely help in my classroom. To help students remember formulas or work through a problem, by being aware of the intelligences I will have a much better chance of students retaining the information and understanding it.
Dominick
Chapter 8 of UBD went in depth about grading methods. The grading system used in most schools is not sufficient for many reasons, but the biggest reason is because it does not consider universal design. So far we have been asked to take the multiple intelligences theory into consideration when do lesson plans, but what good will that do if we do not find a way to grade accordingly? Teachers must realize that the grading end of the process is just as important as the learning end of it. If students are graded properly then how will they ever receive a truly accurate grade. We must find creative and innovative ways to grade students work using universal design. In the MI reading chapter 8 discussed important aspects of running a thriving classroom environment. The chapter discussed how to communicate class rules, putting together groups, making students aware of changes and transitions and most importantly getting students attention. If we are to teach our lessons effectively we must grab students attention. If we do not do this then how can we expect students to garner interest in the subject, let alone even trying to comprehend. We have to hook students in with making real world connections and explaining why what they are learning is such a big deal. Chapter 11 of the 11 was geared more toward students who have disabilities, but still have multiple intelligences. Every single student possesses multiple intelligences and each one has their own strength. I have a cousin who has some mental handicaps, but exceeds in certain areas of the multiple intelligences. My cousin, Oliver, is extremely gifted in mathematics, but lacks strength in the verbal and kinesthetic intelligences. Just because he has these mental handicaps should the world discredit his gift? Should we do this with all students who have learning disabilities? No, it is our obligation as teachers to fine tune these strengths. Chapter 12 touched upon a few interesting points, but mainly continued to talk about the multiple intelligence. Memorization was one that stuck out to me personally. This I suppose could be considered a strength in some cases.
Laura
One point that was emphasized at least to some extent in each of the chapters was the importance of focusing on what a given student CAN do versus what he or she cannot do. This applies to special education students in that teachers should use MI theory to help them grow as learners, allowing them to use their stronger intelligences in place of an intelligence that is weaker or less developed. Even though the student may not be taking the same "route" or using the same means as his or her peers, he or she will still reach the desired endpoint one way or another, and maybe even at a different time, and this is okay. By focusing on what special education students CAN do (because in many cases, a student who is deficient on one or more intelligences makes up for it by being extremely strong in another), these students will have better self-esteem and an "increased understanding and appreciation" from their peers (Armstrong, 159). In terms of cognitive skills, a students' memory can be refined by helping them practice it through their strongest intelligences instead of forcing them to memorize content through their weaker intelligences. I really liked the list of ways that memory can be practiced through all the different MIs. It is also important for teachers to use the MIs of their students to help them determine which classroom management strategies will be most effective. If a teacher is trying to manage his/her classroom through strategies that don't appeal to the MIs of his/her students, then the students won't be ask likely to listen and the teacher will get frustrated. This is why the teacher must focus on the strengths of the students. Lastly chapter 8 of UbD discussed the importance of paying attention to the abilities of students when grading them, and also suggested ways to grade most holistically and in ways the support the learning of the student. It is the teacher's job to communicate learning development to the students, focusing just as much on their successes as the things that they need to improve upon. And, just as it is important to differentiate instruction, it also important to differentiate grading strategies to make sure that everything is being accounted for. These are things that I will keep in mind when I have my own students.
Katelin
These chapters were all pretty strong to things I knew and believed in. For example, the UBD chapter talked all about grading and how a number is not always a good indication of how a student meets a standard, and when we use numbers, we need to use them correctly. I know that when I do grading, I am really going to do it standards based and try my hardest not to give too many letter grades. When deducting for things on a paper, it becomes a problem. Students especially become obsessed with what they will get for every question, how much a simple mistake is worth, etc. It creates this idea that they need to always get everything right and it causes anxiety and cheating. If we just try to come up with a way that they can prove that they know the standard, they will leave there knowing something instead. The other MI chapters were really about making sure that we are creative when we create our lessons to help accommodate all students. Something that really stood out to me was memorizing; when I was in high school, a teacher pointed out to me that I was memorizing too much and it was not going to help me in that class at all, and I needed to learn, not memorize. I had no idea what he was talking about and I just argued with him, until I realized something one day. I was always learning something for a test and then forgetting about it. When it came to finals or cumulative things, I would have to relearn everything I had already “learned” because I only memorized things. This is exactly what I do not want kids to do in my class. Math all builds off each other and it is important that they are not memorizing because they will have problems down the line, and they will never understand major concepts, they just see a bunch of little pictures instead of big pictures. To do this, I need to look at every intelligence and if a student is trying to memorize in the most common intelligence, find a way to turn it into other ones until they decide which one best works for them.
Rhi
Chapter eight of UbD/DI focuses on grading and reporting. Interestingly, the books suggest that the majority of assessments should not be graded. I think this is very true especially in the early stages of a unit when student are just learning a topic, how can we grade them on mastery when they haven't even had time to master anything. I think a lot of times the biggest problem with not grading is if students know something won't be graded, then they won't try hard or do their best on it. I think in this case it's important to disregard grading as an overarching topic and worry about the quality of work students are passing it before jumping to grades. When giving grades, it's definitely important for teachers to specify what a students grade signifies and give them reasons for why they got the grade they did, also to explain the grading system before a project not after. For me grading isn't as important as making sure my students are engaged and care about what they are learning. It's crucial to me that my students care about their health and want to be healthy throughout their lives, not just coming to my class to get an A on a test. Chapter eight of MI talks about using students’ multiple intelligences as a way to get their attention. For example: a student is goofing off and distracting other students in your class, using your knowledge of his/her interests, you contemplate what intelligence they might be and alter your lesson to engage this type of learner so that everyone can be focused. Chapter twelve focused on student cognition and how it plays a role in the classroom and MI theory. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will help make evaluation more accurate. Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not well shown with exams, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is a much better way to get them where they need to be.
Cooper
Chapter 8 of the Understanding By Design book talked about grading for a differentiated classroom. One of the main points that I think is important was reporting back to students and parents. This is obviously a function of almost every classroom but I think it’s importance cannot be overstated. It is extremely important for students to know where they stand in a class and what they need to do to get where they want to be, similarly it is important for parents to know where their children stand so that they can help them in anyway they can from home. Chapter 8 of the UBD book definitely related to chapter 8 of the MI book because it talks about behavior in the classroom, reporting students behavior can be just as important as communicating academic struggles or triumphs. If behavioral concerns are what is getting in the way of a student in their learning it is not only important for the parents to know but the student as well. Also communication can take place before there are even behavioral concerns, if classroom expectations are clearly communicated then misbehavior can often be avoided altogether. Chapter 11 of the MI book talks about how we can integrate MI into special education in the classroom. I found it very interesting that it was suggested that “learning disabilities” may exist in all eight of the intelligences. Conceptually I think we view “learning disabilities” as only deriving from a specific set of deficiencies, but if we view each of the intelligences as equal then someone who can’t “carry a tune” is in the same boat as someone who suffers from dyslexia. I found this to be a really important observation as it could take the stigma away from the term “learning disability”. Chapter 12 of the MI book talks about using MI to help how students think and memorize material having to do with all eight intelligences. I found this to be another important distinction to make, students may have trouble remembering a date or a phone number, but if they are an auditory learner they may have an easier time remembering it if they set it to a tune.
Table of Contents
Team 3 Blog
Cooper, Dom, Katelin (Activity), Rhi (Hyperlinks)Synthesis
CooperOne of the main points most of us touched upon was grading for a differentiated classroom. Conventional grading systems leave much to be desired in actual assessment of a student, often times when students do schoolwork with a grade being the primary motivator a full understanding isn’t achieved. Just as grades shouldn’t be an affirmation of understanding for the student, formative assessments should not be a large portion of grading for the teacher. Many of us noted that the role of formative assessments should be to inform the instructor, student, and parents of where the student is in their learning. Once we understand this we can utilize the information gathered through assessments to make sure the student has the greatest opportunity to improve in their learning. This process led many of us to write about improvement based grading, students who make great strides in their learning should not be penalized for not reaching a predetermined benchmark that may be set by the “average” student, these students should be rewarded for making individual improvements. The concept of a specific benchmark for all students to reach being problematic was definitely expressed throughout our responses. What many of us talked about in our response to the Multiple Intelligence chapters was how students with deficiencies in certain areas often excel in others. Deficiencies in math or english are often stigmatized while deficiencies in some of the other intelligences are not really connected to any sort of intellectual stigma. When students struggle in areas that are emphasized in a general curriculum they are dismissed as someone with a learning disability rather than having someone focus on the areas that they are exceptional in. These concepts converged for many of us into the broad statement that as instructors we need to be prepared to assess and grade students of all different intelligences and learning styles. Making success in the classroom a finite concept limits the learning for students who succeed in class and students who struggle. Assessing learning and being open to students who learn in a variety of ways is the best way to ensure that there is growth for all students in a classroom.
Abstract
DominickA primary focus of chapter 8 of UBD was grades in the classroom. Should teachers consider the quality of work more? Should teachers look more toward how much improvement the student has achieved over the course of the year? Should grades be based on how many of the teachers learning goals were met by the student? The author expresses that "grading and reporting" need "thoughtful consideration". Teachers must contemplate how they use backward planning and differentiated instruction. These concepts are all relevant to one another in terms of needing to change. Curves should not be used when grading and teachers should consider not grading assessments. Students achievement and "other factors" should be "reported separately". Other factors such as attendance, attitude behavior should not be associated with the student's individual achievement. Reporting systems should also be closely observed before finalization.
Chapter 8 of the MI book starts off by going over a classroom management issue: getting noisy students to quite down. The author brings about a scenario that shows the wrong way to control a class when they are too loud. Multiple intelligences is a critical component to consider here. The teacher cannot lose the students attention while switching subjects because everything they teach for the rest of that lesson will render useless otherwise. Preparation for the transition is key when managing to keep the students attention for the duration of class. Rules must be expressed clearly or students will misinterpret what classroom norms are acceptable and ones that could be inappropriate, pointless and flat out outlandish.
Chapter 11 goes back to the theory of multiple intelligences. A new concept is brought up that is relevant to the theory and that is special education. Students of all natures have their own type of intelligence. There are patterns that teachers need to pick up on in multiple intelligences theory. It is spotted through the growth of the student. The depth that concept must be considered when focusing on the student. Then the chapter goes on to bring up the relevance of in "the development of IEPs".
Cognitive skills and memory are both focused on heavily in this chapter to establish a connection between these two concepts and the multiple intelligence theory. How essential are these skills for students to retain and communicate the knowledge they possess? Teachers then must help students make the connection between that and problem solving.
The common theme I found among all of these chapters is that teachers must adjust their way of teaching according to needs of different MI's, special needs and/or other learning disabilities. Wether it's grading, lesson planning or assignments we must do our best to meet the needs of everyone.
Sarah
Chapter 8 in UbD talks about grading and report cards. In this chapter I learned that the primary goal of grading is to give students and parents feedback to support the learning process and to encourage learner success. One way to make grading better is to have descriptions in qualities in student work for each symbol on the grading scale. I also learned that teachers need to eliminate factors that interfere with a student’s ability to show what they learned. The chapter suggests not to grade on a curve and to not score all (or even most) assessments. I learned that it is not a fair to grade formative assessments since their purpose is mainly for feedback. This means that the only assessments that should be graded are summative assessments. The book highly suggested using reporting systems instead of report cards. These systems would give more information than just an A in math C in English etc. The thing that will impact me the most is that the chapter said teachers can even do this when a district uses report cards by having an attachment put into the report card that gives more in depth information about how a student is doing in the course. This chapter can relate to chapter 8 in MI because the MI chapter talks about elements of order in the classroom. Giving reports on how the students are behaving and working in the class can be part of a report system. Reporting how students are behaving can be assessed using MI theory. Chapter 8 (MI) talks about using MI theory to get students attention, to make students aware of transitions, for communicating class rules, and for forming groups. I learned that MI theory can also be used for students with behavior problems. In the case of behavior problems, a teacher can help using the student’s strongest developed MI or the student’s underdeveloped MI. Chapter 11 and 12 talk more about other uses for MI theory. I learned that MI theory can apply to memory. Students that are considered to have poor memories really only have poor memory in one or two MIs. Chapter 11 talks all about how MI theory can be applied to special education. When MI is applied, special education can work better with regular education. Instead of teachers seeing students weaknesses (their learning disability), teachers can instead look at the student’s MIs and see their MI strengths.
Cheyenne
Chapter 8 of UbD focused on grading and its flaws, and ways to fix it. For so many students, grading is simply a goal to be reached, but not a worthwhile one. The grading system favors certain people, and lets down others who are not as strong academically and it forms a divide. Many teachers say they’re seeking a bell curve, but this is not where students should be. The bell curve stresses that most people should be in a B-C range, that this is the average, yet we as a society preach that As and Bs are where students need to be. Many colleges look more for students in the A-B range, even though B-C is considered average. We need to move away from this idea and stress grading based on proficiency, not a letter grade or number scale. Proficiency based grading puts the learner first, assessing them on their content knowledge and how they reached understanding, not on how well they test or complete assignments, and it’s something that educators as a whole must work towards.MI chapter 8 discussed various ways to implement multiple intelligences into the classroom, but many of the ideas seemed more geared towards younger children opposed to middle and high school students. They do provide a good basis for ways to use MI in the classroom, but none of them feel like things I would be able to use and have my students take me seriously.
MI chapter 11 focused on using multiple intelligences to reach students with a variety of disabilities. Often times, these students will have a disability that impairs one of their intelligences, but they exceed in other areas. As a society, we have a terrible and gross misconception that people with disabilities will have a harder time understanding things, but we refuse to look at the way we might be teaching them. This chapter encourages educators to self-assess how they’re teaching these students, and if they’re only focusing on the area where a student is struggling and refusing to look at other possible ways to reach the students.
Chapter 12 of MI looks at using multiple intelligences to encourage higher order thinking. It looks at ways to use multiple intelligences to improve memorization and problem solving. So much of the current education system places a high value on verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligences that the other intelligences often get left behind. But a great portion of students don’t learn best this way, and are not succeeding as they should be able to because they’re not being taught in this way, or are not encouraged to think this way. It’s imperative that we as teachers reach all intelligences by encouraging different thinking and ways of learning and understanding material.
Lydia
It is important to consider how you grade your students and make sure that they are based on the learning goals that are set for your students. Chapter 8 in UbD also makes it clear that you should base your grading off of the improvement the student has made over the year, not if they get everything right. You also have to take into consideration how to reach your students that may be more advanced or may have a learning disability. Ways to do this for advanced students are to challenge their intelligences that may not be the strongest and let them grow through learning and exploration. MI chapter 11 also says that some ways to help students with learning disabilities in the classroom is to keep them included in every activity as much as possible with the whole class. Another way to include students with special needs is to use their strengths of the multiple intelligences to their advantage instead of making them struggle with intelligences that they have a hard time with.
Something else that could be important in the classroom is using the multiple intelligences as a way to help you manage your classroom. Some ways of integrating the multiple intelligences into the classrooms are to get the students to pay attention in class other than yelling at them or using any verbal ways to make them become engaged. Some other things you could use the intelligences for are letting students know there will be a transition, getting them into groups, coming up with class rules, and dealing with behavior issues. The Multiple intelligence theory also shows how students can use certain parts of their intelligences to remember something that may be in another intelligence area.
This is important to my future class because they need to feel like their every learning need is being met. As the teacher I have to apply some of these methods to the best of my ability to reach out to students that may not always feel included in class discussion. I also have to challenge other students so they do not feel like they are bored in class. As a teacher I have to find the balance to keep all of my students engaged in what they are learning and I must also think of out of the box ways that I may be able to present the information.
Cory
All of these chapters in general talked about something different. Chapter 8 in UBD talked mainly about the 6 principles of grading. For the most part, most of this information seemed logical to me, and something that all teachers should understand. The biggest take away I got from this chapter was the main idea of the first principle: grades should be based on the specific learning goals that a teacher puts in their syllabus. When a teacher does this, then students will know exactly what is expected of them long before their assessment arrives, meaning they can focus directly on what they should be learning as a teacher goes through the lessons. Then Chapter 8 for MI focused on using the multiple intelligence model in the classroom. As I read this chapter, I felt that the information was rather helpful, but that it was something that I should learn by experience rather than through a book. These strategies to communicate rules, transition from one activity to another, and gaining student’s attention are good starting points, but I feel that every teacher has their own style and way of doing these things. Only the best teachers I have had had their own distinct style that was exhibited in all of these areas. Chapter 11 was much more interesting to me. This chapter focused on how to use the multiple intelligence theory when it comes to special education. The thing that struck me the most was a line on the first page that said, “Educators have had a disturbing tendency (gifted educators excepted) to work from a deficient paradigm – focusing on what students can’t do…” This is one flaw some of my teachers in high school had. When a teacher focuses on what they’re students can’t do, they sometimes over look what their students can actually do. When they do this they may lose some student’s motivation because they will begin to feel that they can’t do much when they actually can. Then chapter 12 seemed rather self explanatory for me. It explained how the multiple intelligence theory could be used to tell how uses their cognitive skills. In other words, it can be used to tell how a student thinks, which is something that they talked about much earlier on in the book.Shane
The reading for these chapters discuss a variety of different thing such as grading and how to apply the intelligences in the classroom. The big theme was how to make classroom procedures work for a variety of different students. The big part that I enjoyed and connected with the most was the getting away from traditional grading and getting to different types of grading. I have heard of a lot of different schools that are taking grades into a different perspective, but I can say I strongly hate the idea of effort based grading. As a student when we would get an effort grade as well as a letter grade I would get so mad I got an A, but then a 3 for effort. Just because I don’t show high levels of stress and it came easy does not mean I wasn’t trying. I don’t think anyone can judge effort unless is clear someone does not care. Even if someone clearly doesn’t bring in the work that should reflect on their letter grade not in another category all on its own. Another important thought I liked was about content. I feel it is super important to learn the content and then present your knowledge, but also how you feel and what you think in a professional manner. They talked about this in the MI chapters and I couldn’t agree more. The chapter also goes on to tell us that observing a student’s progress throughout the year is also important. Grades could be based on that as well I guess if you’d like. It’s sort of a most improved award if you show progress reward them. The only issue with that is what if someone wasn’t struggling? I really like the fact they gave us a different way to take notes and examples of more activities to relate to different learners. Although we already brainstormed on our own for our lessons it was good to see someone else’s idea of how they would relate to learners. I am excited to see how to plan other activities like study guides, lectures and other ways to help with the learners not just the lessons. To be a good teacher I am going to have to provide a variety of different things for my students and this got me thinking. Some of the reading was common sense and things we have gone over, but it was a good refresher.Sara
Chapter 8 of UBD/DI talks about grading in the classroom. The current grading system most classrooms use today is not the best way to showcase a student’s knowledge. A teacher can focus all of their time into creating a great lesson plan that accommodates all types of learners, only to fall short when it comes to grading. If a teacher does not consider universal design in their grading methods than what good is it when a student is trying to learn the material. Many students are let down by the grading system because of the way it is set up. They receive a representative grade of a D and feel inadequate when in reality there are multiple things that could go wrong. If student has a bad day, or is having a tough time in school because of personal reasons, does that mean they do not know the material, not necessarily. Intelligences should be considered in all aspects when it comes to the classroom. This includes simple things like how a teacher gives directions or how they get students attention. These small things add up for students and by taking into account their intelligences it gives students the best chance at succeeding. Chapter 11 talks about multiple intelligences with students who have disabilities. I found this chapter very interesting. A lot of times in society people think that students with disabilities have trouble in all aspects of school. In a lot of cases this is not true. While some students may struggle in some areas, they excel in others. It is important as teachers to understand all of our students and understand how best to help them. Chapter 12 was also very interesting to read. This chapter talked about how the intelligences can apply towards different aspects of thinking such as problem solving. Before reading this chapter I had never associated the intelligences to things such as memory. This way of thinking and understanding can immensely help in my classroom. To help students remember formulas or work through a problem, by being aware of the intelligences I will have a much better chance of students retaining the information and understanding it.Dominick
Chapter 8 of UBD went in depth about grading methods. The grading system used in most schools is not sufficient for many reasons, but the biggest reason is because it does not consider universal design. So far we have been asked to take the multiple intelligences theory into consideration when do lesson plans, but what good will that do if we do not find a way to grade accordingly? Teachers must realize that the grading end of the process is just as important as the learning end of it. If students are graded properly then how will they ever receive a truly accurate grade. We must find creative and innovative ways to grade students work using universal design. In the MI reading chapter 8 discussed important aspects of running a thriving classroom environment. The chapter discussed how to communicate class rules, putting together groups, making students aware of changes and transitions and most importantly getting students attention. If we are to teach our lessons effectively we must grab students attention. If we do not do this then how can we expect students to garner interest in the subject, let alone even trying to comprehend. We have to hook students in with making real world connections and explaining why what they are learning is such a big deal. Chapter 11 of the 11 was geared more toward students who have disabilities, but still have multiple intelligences. Every single student possesses multiple intelligences and each one has their own strength. I have a cousin who has some mental handicaps, but exceeds in certain areas of the multiple intelligences. My cousin, Oliver, is extremely gifted in mathematics, but lacks strength in the verbal and kinesthetic intelligences. Just because he has these mental handicaps should the world discredit his gift? Should we do this with all students who have learning disabilities? No, it is our obligation as teachers to fine tune these strengths. Chapter 12 touched upon a few interesting points, but mainly continued to talk about the multiple intelligence. Memorization was one that stuck out to me personally. This I suppose could be considered a strength in some cases.Laura
One point that was emphasized at least to some extent in each of the chapters was the importance of focusing on what a given student CAN do versus what he or she cannot do. This applies to special education students in that teachers should use MI theory to help them grow as learners, allowing them to use their stronger intelligences in place of an intelligence that is weaker or less developed. Even though the student may not be taking the same "route" or using the same means as his or her peers, he or she will still reach the desired endpoint one way or another, and maybe even at a different time, and this is okay. By focusing on what special education students CAN do (because in many cases, a student who is deficient on one or more intelligences makes up for it by being extremely strong in another), these students will have better self-esteem and an "increased understanding and appreciation" from their peers (Armstrong, 159). In terms of cognitive skills, a students' memory can be refined by helping them practice it through their strongest intelligences instead of forcing them to memorize content through their weaker intelligences. I really liked the list of ways that memory can be practiced through all the different MIs. It is also important for teachers to use the MIs of their students to help them determine which classroom management strategies will be most effective. If a teacher is trying to manage his/her classroom through strategies that don't appeal to the MIs of his/her students, then the students won't be ask likely to listen and the teacher will get frustrated. This is why the teacher must focus on the strengths of the students. Lastly chapter 8 of UbD discussed the importance of paying attention to the abilities of students when grading them, and also suggested ways to grade most holistically and in ways the support the learning of the student. It is the teacher's job to communicate learning development to the students, focusing just as much on their successes as the things that they need to improve upon. And, just as it is important to differentiate instruction, it also important to differentiate grading strategies to make sure that everything is being accounted for. These are things that I will keep in mind when I have my own students.Katelin
These chapters were all pretty strong to things I knew and believed in. For example, the UBD chapter talked all about grading and how a number is not always a good indication of how a student meets a standard, and when we use numbers, we need to use them correctly. I know that when I do grading, I am really going to do it standards based and try my hardest not to give too many letter grades. When deducting for things on a paper, it becomes a problem. Students especially become obsessed with what they will get for every question, how much a simple mistake is worth, etc. It creates this idea that they need to always get everything right and it causes anxiety and cheating. If we just try to come up with a way that they can prove that they know the standard, they will leave there knowing something instead. The other MI chapters were really about making sure that we are creative when we create our lessons to help accommodate all students. Something that really stood out to me was memorizing; when I was in high school, a teacher pointed out to me that I was memorizing too much and it was not going to help me in that class at all, and I needed to learn, not memorize. I had no idea what he was talking about and I just argued with him, until I realized something one day. I was always learning something for a test and then forgetting about it. When it came to finals or cumulative things, I would have to relearn everything I had already “learned” because I only memorized things. This is exactly what I do not want kids to do in my class. Math all builds off each other and it is important that they are not memorizing because they will have problems down the line, and they will never understand major concepts, they just see a bunch of little pictures instead of big pictures. To do this, I need to look at every intelligence and if a student is trying to memorize in the most common intelligence, find a way to turn it into other ones until they decide which one best works for them.Rhi
Chapter eight of UbD/DI focuses on grading and reporting. Interestingly, the books suggest that the majority of assessments should not be graded. I think this is very true especially in the early stages of a unit when student are just learning a topic, how can we grade them on mastery when they haven't even had time to master anything. I think a lot of times the biggest problem with not grading is if students know something won't be graded, then they won't try hard or do their best on it. I think in this case it's important to disregard grading as an overarching topic and worry about the quality of work students are passing it before jumping to grades. When giving grades, it's definitely important for teachers to specify what a students grade signifies and give them reasons for why they got the grade they did, also to explain the grading system before a project not after. For me grading isn't as important as making sure my students are engaged and care about what they are learning. It's crucial to me that my students care about their health and want to be healthy throughout their lives, not just coming to my class to get an A on a test.Chapter eight of MI talks about using students’ multiple intelligences as a way to get their attention. For example: a student is goofing off and distracting other students in your class, using your knowledge of his/her interests, you contemplate what intelligence they might be and alter your lesson to engage this type of learner so that everyone can be focused. Chapter twelve focused on student cognition and how it plays a role in the classroom and MI theory. While teaching, determining what students are thinking and what they are mastering is essential. By categorizing each students’ knowledge and applying it to the class it will not only make the student more likely to succeed, but it will help make evaluation more accurate. Overall, these chapters talked about how student achievement is not well shown with exams, but helping students work around any number of factors and providing them opportunities for success is a much better way to get them where they need to be.
Cooper
Chapter 8 of the Understanding By Design book talked about grading for a differentiated classroom. One of the main points that I think is important was reporting back to students and parents. This is obviously a function of almost every classroom but I think it’s importance cannot be overstated. It is extremely important for students to know where they stand in a class and what they need to do to get where they want to be, similarly it is important for parents to know where their children stand so that they can help them in anyway they can from home. Chapter 8 of the UBD book definitely related to chapter 8 of the MI book because it talks about behavior in the classroom, reporting students behavior can be just as important as communicating academic struggles or triumphs. If behavioral concerns are what is getting in the way of a student in their learning it is not only important for the parents to know but the student as well. Also communication can take place before there are even behavioral concerns, if classroom expectations are clearly communicated then misbehavior can often be avoided altogether. Chapter 11 of the MI book talks about how we can integrate MI into special education in the classroom. I found it very interesting that it was suggested that “learning disabilities” may exist in all eight of the intelligences. Conceptually I think we view “learning disabilities” as only deriving from a specific set of deficiencies, but if we view each of the intelligences as equal then someone who can’t “carry a tune” is in the same boat as someone who suffers from dyslexia. I found this to be a really important observation as it could take the stigma away from the term “learning disability”. Chapter 12 of the MI book talks about using MI to help how students think and memorize material having to do with all eight intelligences. I found this to be another important distinction to make, students may have trouble remembering a date or a phone number, but if they are an auditory learner they may have an easier time remembering it if they set it to a tune.